Compact skin for Steam is a simple but sleek skin that transforms your default client skin in to a dark, stealthy client that allows important information along with buttons to stand out boldly. The minimalist skin uses a very simple color scheme of a smooth block along with a strong bright white which strikes the eye when looking over the skin. This simple transition of colors looks brilliant, and this skin also allows players with lower-end computers to try out Steam skin alternation as there are aren’t any complex colors or layers to render within the Steam client. Any graphics that are too complex have been removed, leaving the most minimal, basic skin that still looks pleasant to the eye. The developer, seq, has clearly made a wonderful job of designing and creating the Steam Compact skin which is a great skin to replace the bland, default Steam skin.
Screenshots
Click on the images below to enlarge and see better!
Compact Skin Changelogs
v1.6.30
- Compatible with Steam version 1523458786 (built 2018-07-24).
1.6.05
Compatible with Steam version 1522101301 (built 2018-03-26).
Installation Instructions
- Download the skin file below, you should get an archive with the “.zip” or “.rar” extension.
- Extract the ZIP or RAR and move the folder to:
- Windows:
C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/skins - MAC OS X: Press Cmd+Shift+G in Finder and type
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/Steam.AppBundle/Steam/Contents/MacOS/skins - Linux:
~/.local/share/Steam/skins/
- Windows:
- Open the Steam interface and in top tab, click on “Steam” / “Settings”.
- Then open the Interface section.
- Find the option “Select the skin you wish Steam to use (requires Steam to restart)” and choose the skin that you want.
- Completely shut down and restart Steam.
- That was all; now you must have another interface.
Disable/Uninstall
- v1: Only go back to the Interface tab in Steam’s Settings and select a different skin.
- v2: Delete the skin folder from /Steam/skins.
The chat and friends UI doesn't load? Then you have to disable the new UI for them. We posted a guide on how to do this, take a look here.
Direct Download
38263 downloads
External Download
badanka.github.io/Compact
Well its not working for me
Simplicity incarnate, love this skin. I think it looks best with DirectWrite disabled (under Settings -> Interface).
It works, you just have to put the correct “Compact” folder into the Steam>Skins folder
This skin represents what steam should have been. It’s stable, fast, has small font, compact, and peaceful and well organized with all the info you need. The name Compact is well chosen.
When the skins “Compact” or “Air” are applied they eat up cpu time just having the Steam window open on my Windows 10 machine and viewing Task Manager. I’ve tried this multiple times against just default skin or “invert” skins that don’t take any cpu time. Something to think about.
edit, Looks like compact version 1.595 does this. The newer 1.599 seems to be ok.
I like the look of this skin, but it makes my steam CPU usage jump from ~4% with default and other skins to 15%.
Nevermind, the version of this skin on this site is old. If you go to the author’s site you can get the latest version that works better and doesn’t cause additional CPU usage badanka.github.io/Compact/
i hope this reaches seq/badanka
i’m a long time fan (lover would be more appropriate) of this skin. i’ve used it for probably at least two years, and no other skin ever even came close to Compact.
when the new UI came out, i thought that was it. the new UI is great, packed with useful features and looks nicer than the old steam unskinned, but it was too bulky especially coming from Compact.
i was sure that was it for Compact updates, that there was too much to change and that there was no way to project Compact’s beauty and simplicity onto the new feature-rich & bulky steam UI, and that i’d never be able to use it again. i accepted it, said “i guess this is good enough” and tearfully deselected it from my steam options interface tab.
then today, talking to some buddies and reminiscing about Compact and how they should have seen it before it was too late, i decided to check the site just for the hell of it, and there it was. updated 07/26/18 for the new steam UI. upon installing it, i found it keeps all the good parts of the new UI and just cuts down the bulkiness and weirdly placed shit that steam is notorious for.
i’m fucking ecstatic. god bless you, seq. you’re doing gods work and i seriously fucking appreciate it.
I used to think it was no match for Metro. The colours on Compact Skin have probably been updated because I find it better now.
There’s a slight jarring thing – in Grid View uninstalled banners gray out upon hovering.
It’s not a feature of the default Steam skin.
I tried tinkering with the files, for example there was something like decreased alpha for not installed. But it made no difference.
It there something that can be done towards preventing the buttons of not installed games from graying out?
I used to think it was no match for Metro. The colours on Compact Skin have probably been updated because I find it better now.
There’s a slight jarring thing – in Grid View uninstalled banners gray out upon hovering.
It’s not a feature of the default Steam skin.
I tried tinkering with the files, for example there was something like decreased alpha for not installed. But it made no difference.
It there something that can be done towards preventing the buttons of not installed games from graying out?